


All That Remains

by Renegade_Redshirt



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Fluff, Gen, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Characters Being Added As I Go, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-03 11:05:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11530899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renegade_Redshirt/pseuds/Renegade_Redshirt
Summary: Reader’s an engineer who unexpectedly loses her father, and Scotty refuses to let her suffer alone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First time I've ever written fanfiction! Woot!
> 
> I started writing this for Scotty week of TrekFest, hosted on Tumblr by outside-the-government :3
> 
> I'm basing the plot off my irrational fear that my dad will suddenly pass away before I get a chance to say goodbye. Because life happens, I don't see him for years at a time, and I miss him a lot.  
> I know you'll never read this, but this is for you, Dad. I love you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Relationships is marked as "Gen" because I think the Scotty/Reader will probably end up as a friends thing rather than a romantic thing, but we'll see.
> 
> Beta'd by the awesome engineeringtrashcan and Shewolf-2013 over on Tumblr!

You were elbow deep in wiring when your PADD chimed.

Normally you would have waited to finish your task before checking it, but the tone was one you hadn’t heard in months: it was your brother.

Carefully you extracted yourself from the panel you were working on, set down your tools and reached for the PADD.

All warmth drained from your body when you read the message.  
_**It’s dad. There’s been an accident, and he’s not going to make it.**_

The roar of blood in your ears was so loud, you couldn’t even hear the excuse you mumbled to your work partner as you stumbled away. Everything was a blurry mess of washed out color and muted sounds as you headed to the crew’s quarters; you didn’t even register when your dazed stumble turned into a flat-out run.

The lines of the message flashed in your head on a loop. 

_Not going to make it. Not going to make it…_

You were in the turbolift when snatches of memories began to hit.

 _Back when you were four, your dad sometimes brought home cables to make, connectors to build, and wires to solder together. You weren’t allowed to put your hands anywhere near the hot iron, but he let you guard and keep track of the heat-shrink wraps._  
  
_Years later, you were allowed to use his tools (with supervision). He spent hours helping you craft elaborate projects for school. And one summer, you both made an old-fashioned go-cart together._  
  
_Then you grew up. Graduated high school, got accepted into Starfleet Academy. Your father had been so proud. He had never left Earth, but you were still following his footsteps as a practical engineer. You were just taking your skills to the stars, just like you had always wanted._  
  
_However close you had been with your father when you were little, he had grown distant when you were a teenager. But you didn’t blame him at all. He had changed jobs a few times over the years, and now his work hours were crazy. Sometimes he was on the clock for days at a time. When he was home, he was too exhausted to do anything other than sleep._

_It didn’t help that your mom was always yelling at him for imagined shortcomings, and picking fights over nothing. Occasionally she would throw him out of the house - each time, you silently cried yourself to sleep at night, never knowing when he would come back._

_Your mom’s rage wasn’t confined to just your father. For you and your brothers, enduring shouting, hunger, and occasional beatings was an everyday reality.  
You didn’t mind it for yourself so much, but it cut deep when she treated your brothers and father the same way._

_So when you got your chance to leave, you took it and didn’t look back._

The turbolift slid to a stop, and you ran down the hall to your room. Thankfully it was empty. Your roommate was also on alpha for the time being, and wouldn’t be in until sometime after dinner.

Too numb to cry, you initiate a video call to your brother. He picks up almost immediately.

“What happened?” you ask him, voice husky with pain.

“Rigging fell when he was under it.” Dark circles are under your brother’s eyes, and he looks like he aged ten years since you had last spoken.

A heaviness settles in your chest.   
“Is he… can I talk to him?” 

“He’s not conscious. But you can talk to him.” Your brother turned his PADD, and behind him you saw your dad.  
  
Your breath hitches in your throat when you see him. He’s nearly white under his tan, probably from blood loss. He’s on a respirator, and the heart monitor isn’t beeping as steadily as it should.  
  
“They’re keeping him on… until everyone’s said their goodbyes,” your brother whispered. “You’re the last one.”  
  
Something breaks inside you, and the tears begin to fall. You bite your lip, struggling to summon the willpower to force your voice not to crack.  
“Is mom…?” You ask, unable to finish the question.   
  
“In the hall.” Your brother reassures you. “I can give you a few minutes alone with him.”  
  
“Thanks,” you whisper.   
  
Your brother drops out of frame as he sets the PADD down on the bedside table and props it up against something. As soon as you hear the door shut, you take a deep breath.

“Dad.” The word comes out in a breathless whisper, cracked and broken-sounding. Just like the feelings pounding in your chest. Gathering your courage, you try again.

“Dad, I… I know we never talked much. And I know that we… weren’t as close as we could have been. But I–” your chest heaves mid sentence, forcing you to pause to breathe.

“I know, that she said you were a terrible parent. That you didn’t deserve to be around. But… you are the reason I am who I am. Why I’m still alive.  
“Heck, for as long as I can remember, I’ve… I’ve wanted to grow up to be just like you. I want to be you. So, here I am, up in the black, fixing things. Like you always fixed things.”

 _Just not relationships,_  you thought, but harshly pushed that thought away. It wasn’t his fault. It had never been his fault.

“I just–” hot tears fell down your face, and sobs shook your whole body. It took a few moments to catch your breath enough to speak again. “I love you, Dad. I will always love you. To the end of the universe and back.”  
You grin self-deprecatingly through the tears as you recite the phrase he used to say to you when he tucked you in bed at night as a small child.

“I just wish… I wish you could be here to see it all. You’d love it in Starfleet, Dad. It’s like a big family. You’d fit right in with the crew, I think. I know you stayed on Earth, but you’d love it here.”  
  
You hear the faint sound of pounding and shouting in the background, but nothing else matters except your father’s pale, almost lifeless face. The only reason you can tell he’s still breathing is the steady beep of the heart monitor, and the erratic hiss of the oxygen moving through the tube in his throat.

“Dad, please,” you whimper. “Wake up. For me? Just one more time.”

The sound of your door sliding open barely registers, but the sudden scottish voice does.  
  
“Are ye a’right in there lass? I saw ya runnin’ through engineering an’ I–”

The oxygen hisses louder, and you realize that your father was breathing a bit more deeply. Gasping, even. But what little hope you had was dashed when the heart monitor went silent… then began to wail.

“Dad! No, please!” the words rip out of your throat as if your very soul was escaping.

“Oh God.” Scotty freezes in horror when he gets close enough to see the video feed on the PADD.

Nurses rush into the room shouting, desperately working on your father. But you know that it’s too late to bring him back. He’s gone.

“Dad!” you scream, the sound barely recognizable as human.  _“Dad!”_

A nurse turns to your brother’s PADD, and the feed cuts out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for Scotty's perspective on things!
> 
> Beta'd by engineeringtrashcan and Shewolf-2013 on Tumblr.

Scotty had looked up just in time to avoid getting run over by one of the lieutenants. He jumped aside, nearly falling over a railing, but managed to catch himself.

He looked at her face as she sprinted past, noting the glazed, desperate look in her eyes. He hadn’t spent much time around her so he couldn’t verify for sure, but she did look a bit more pale than normal. 

The lieutenant commander shrugged and went back to his day. Until he realized that everyone in engineering wasn’t working. Scotty glanced around at all the faces, and quickly made a decision.

“Get back tae work, all of ya! The Enterprise’s not goin’ to fix herself!” He didn’t like ordering people around, but sometimes it had to be done. He watched with satisfaction as everyone sheepishly went back to their work, then motioned over one of the younger lieutenants.

“Henman! I need to have a word wi’ ya, please.”

“Yes sir?” the technician asked as he approached the chief engineer. 

“You’re lieutenant Y/L/N’s work partner, righ’?”

“Yes sir.”

“D’ye know where she might be runnin’ off to?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe her room? She got a message on her PADD that must have scared her pretty bad.” Henman looked worried. “Someone should go check on her.”

“I’ll be takin’ care of that. Finish whatever the two of ye were working on, and join another team when yer done.” Scotty nodded at the junior officer, and waved him away. 

A quick call to the quartermaster later, Scotty was heading up to the crewman's sleeping quarters. Standing in the turbolift, he had the first quiet moment to reflect on his snap decision.

It was a common misconception that Scotty cared more for machines than people. In truth, he cared for both equally. The chief engineer liked to watch his crew, to keep an eye on morale. But more importantly, it allowed him to see which ensigns needed more help, which lieutenants were patient teachers, and who worked well with who. It helped him sort out his team, matching man with machine so that both performed at their best. 

Of all the crewmembers in the newer batch of recruits, Y/Full/N seemed to stand out. She didn’t weave in quite as neatly as everyone else. Got along with the other crew just fine; it wasn’t that. She didn’t have many friends though, now that he was thinking about it. 

And when Scotty did happen to be working near her, she always seemed to… hang back? She was a good listener, but didn’t tend to actively participate in conversation. Sometimes when there were arguments, especially heated ones, she shrunk away, almost as if to make herself as small as possible. Once he had watched her eyes dart around, mapping out potential exits and escape routes. 

Scotty found himself in front of Y/L/N’s door, out of time to think over this information further. For a moment he just stood still, listening. He couldn’t be sure--the sounds were so faint--but he thought he heard… crying? 

A twinge of… worry? Concern? Thrums through the chief engineer, and it stirs him to action. When the lieutenant didn’t respond to brisk rapping, the worry spiked into fear. 

“Y/N?” he called. “Are ye all righ’ in there?”

The next few moments felt like an eternity to Scotty--an eternity of silence. The gentle rapping turned into frantic beating with his fists, and still no answer. Shoving the prickle of guilt to the back of his mind, Scotty keyed in a manual override and stepped into the room quickly.

_ Please let her be okay. _

“Are ye a’right in there lass?” the engineer called out softly. “I saw ya runnin’ through engineering and I--” he trailed off as he stepped into her room and saw her on her bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. He noted the PADD she held in her hands.

Suddenly feeling like he was intruding on something, he tentatively stepped closer. But whatever he was about to say was obliterated by the unmistakable sound of a heart monitor signaling heart failure. 

“Dad, no please!” Y/N’s desperate plea broke Scotty’s heart.

“Oh God.” he freezes, unsure what to do. Should he comfort her? Should he leave? Although that last option felt wrong, like the worst kind of abandonment. And something told him that she’d been left behind before.

Y/N’s heart-rending cries cut through Scotty’s indecision, galvanizing him into action. He sank down onto the lieutenant's bed, cautiously putting an arm around her shoulder. She flinched away for a brief second, and Scotty’s heart broke even further. But after a moment, she leaned into him.

Scotty mumbled something that sounded like “Shhhh, gonnae be alrigh’,” but even he wasn’t sure what words were coming out of his mouth. All he knew was that he was  _ not _ going to leave lieutanant Y/L/N to face this alone. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is short! Life's been busy these last few weeks, and I've been focusing on keeping on top of owed art (yay birthday season!). There will be more soon, I promise.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> Beta'd by engineeringtrashcan over on Tumblr.

You were better at compartmentalization than you cared to admit. Or maybe you were just numb. But it didn’t really matter anyway, right? Dad was gone. So nothing really mattered.

There were the two days of bereavement leave, even though you hadn’t really wanted to take them. You slept through those, and went right back to work. The world had become dead and cold; it shrunk down to just the Enterprise. Just engineering, even. There was no room for anything else. The silent noise in your head blocked everything out.

Until, of course, you were off duty. Then the pain came crashing in, threatening to overwhelm you with the sheer vastness of it. You could stave it off with work extra shifts--to a point. Then people came and chased you away, forcing you to face reality. A reality where your father was dead, and you would never see him again. Get to fix things with him. Toss puns and corny jokes around with him. Dad was just… gone. 

And emptiness was preferable to pain. 

Sleep was out of the question. When you did drop, nightmares chased you right back into wakefulness again. So, other things had to fill up your time. Fill up your head and your hands. If not work, well… the parkour tournaments would do. So you threw yourself into it. Parkour meant gym time, running around the track and doing push ups until you had to stop and cough for enough oxygen. Sit ups and crunches until you threw up whatever you had eaten last. If you had eaten at all that day.

On the actual course, you pushed yourself harder than you ever had before. You ran faster, jumped higher, made yourself stronger. Until your body began to fail you.

Sleepless nights and scant eating took their toll. Not that you would admit to it. The world had opened up a bit more, but only by a fraction. Now you were consciously aware of other people beyond ghostly shapes. You could see their facial expressions, their pity and concern. It sifted through the invisible cracks of your armor, and pain began to seep through.   
At one point, someone somehow managed to drag you into medical, where they gave you artificial, sedated sleep and forced nutrients into your bloodstream. 

There was one other thing, though, that made it through the fog. And that was one lieutenant commander Scott.


End file.
